Alice Lauffer

  • In 1968, Lauffer turned her attention to the airbrush and the ellipse, and would turn these two elements into the touchstone of her art. Her command of the airbrush dated to her experiences as a commercial artist, and her application of it to these paintings seems to reflect a desire for an autonomy of touch, a removal of direct manila interaction with the surface of the paintings. In this, and in her urge toward abstraction and in the sequential examination of a formal device, Lauffer was in accord with many of the concerns activating the national art scene at that moment, resulting in the movement we now identify as Minimalism.

    “Alice Lauffer: The Perseverance of Vision” by James Yood

  • Exhibitions
  • Although it was not until the very end of the 1960’s, near her fiftieth year, that Alice Lauffer came into her artistic maturity, the previous decade had by no means been without activity for her. It was during those year that, Lauffer, under the professional name of Loray-Comte, worked as a highly successful independent commercial artist. She also expanded on her earlier training at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts by attending night classes at the School of the Art Insistute of Chicago and by studying with Paul Weighardt at the Evanston Art Center. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Lauffer was also a regular (and rather successful) participant at he major summer art fairs held in the Chicago area, where she exhibited watercolors. 
    “Alice Lauffer: The Perseverance of Vision” by James Yood
  • Works
    • Alice Lauffer, Sphinx, 1977
      Alice Lauffer
      Sphinx, 1977
      watercolor on paper
      30 x 22 inches
    • Alice Lauffer, Phaedra, 1976
      Alice Lauffer
      Phaedra, 1976
      acrylic on canvas
      61.5 x 49.5 inches